The Madras High Court on Thursday seized a suo motu public interest litigation petition (PIL) aimed at preventing private educational institutions, which benefit from concessions in the payment of electricity charges and property taxes, from renting their premises for non-educational activities in order to earn money.

Judges M. Sathyanarayanan and R. Hemalatha ordered Special Head of Government E. Manoharan to take note on behalf of the state government and verify its response by February 26. Opinions have also been ordered to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) and the Greater Chennai Corporation. .

The suo motu PIL had been taken on the basis of a referral made by Judge N. Kirubakaran on November 24, 2016. Although the referral was made three years ago, the Registry had not filed a note before the judge. Chief Amreshwar Pratap Sahi only recently. After being convinced of the reasons attributed for the delay, he referred the matter to the PIL committee.

Judge Kirubakaran’s 2016 reference was made as he refused to hear a case filed by S. Sujitha, who claimed to be a journalist working for a TV channel, to prevent the Artists Association of India of the South, known as Nadigar Sangam, to lead its annual general meeting. Body meeting at Loyola College auditorium in Nungambakkam here.

The judge then doubted the applicant’s good faith and therefore refused to hear the case. However, he was of the view that the broader issue of educational institutions using their premises for commercial purposes should be considered by the court as a public interest lawsuit and sufficient guidance should be given on the matter.

He pointed out that Tangedco only charges 3.15 yen for each unit of electricity consumed by educational institutions, compared to 11 yen per unit billed for temporary power supply for construction activities. Therefore, institutions that receive such subsidies from public services should use their premises strictly for educational activities only, he said.

Since Loyola College and Nadigar Sangam were parties to the motion in brief in which the Single Judge made the reference, the Bench Division headed by Judge Sathyanarayanan also included them as defendants in the suo motu PIL motion and referred them to ordered reviews.